[mapleridge]

Hi All,

There seems to be bits and pieces of info here and there for halogen to xenon conversion. While general info can be drawn from those threads I wanted to make a specific one highlighting the process. I have not converted my units yet but I am looking for assistance and I would like to make a thorough write up about each step with videos and pics so it can be totally clear. I will update this thread with more info as I progress.

First off. Here are pics of the wiring in the headlights. Pic one is the pin configuration.


If someone can give me an idea of popping off the connector to re-arrange pin 5 and 6 I would appreciate it.


Next is a pic of the ballast wires. They are brown and yellow. These need to be tapped?? Not sure.


Lastly is a pic of the wiring at the projector. Another tap is needed here?

[Virterm]

+1

[yakev724]

Couple threads which may help you out:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=526378

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143927

[mapleridge]

Originally Posted by yakev724

Couple threads which may help you out:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=526378

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143927

Thanks, but I am little overwhelmed with the amount of info in those threads. Basically we need to modify inside the xenon headlight for the high beams first off correct? This is by switching pin 5 to pin 6. I have been told that you can pop out the connector and switch the pins sort of like what I had to do for the lci rear retrofit. I just don't know how to pop out the connector.

[mapleridge]

Alright...so here is an update. I managed to pop the connector out and swap pin 5 to pin 6 slot. Let me tell you...you may get aggravated and you could mess up your pin. Be careful. It took me about 1 hour to do. The other side hopefully won't take more than 15 minutes. I don't even know why I needed to do this but I know it needed to be done...well...here are the tools I used. Macguyver would be proud. Plyers for pulling pin into slot 6 after you get it started. Two flat objects for pushing the connector into the housing. Shaved down pen cap for pushing retaining metal piece down for pin removal.



What you need to do (Thanks Desi4life) is take two flatheads or thin butter knives like what I had and put them into 12 and 6 o clock on the connector. So that is in between the housing and the connector. Do not be confused by the two holes in the connector, that is not what I am talking about. Basically, there are two ridges of plastic behind the connector that you need to get it over and push it into the housing. That is pretty simple. No pic provided. You can see where I put the flat heads by the marks on the connector in the last pic of this post.

Next, the wires are attached at two plastic plugs that are plugged into holes on the housing. Just push them down and they will come out. This will give you some more slack. See the brown and green wires attached to the plug that I have pulled out. The other one is close to the leveler and has a greater number of wires on it. You will feel/see it.



Now...you need to snap open the little bracket that is keeping the pins from coming out. See the pic. You need to do it on the side that has the pin5. Don't worry as these may break off. You can still use it even if it breaks off. Use a flathead or a a knife to pop the cap off.


Here is where I shaved down a pen cap and used it. For those of you who have done the lci tail light pin reconfiguration, it is the same deal. There is a metal lip that is pressing against plastic where you popped that cap off. You put the pen lid in there and push the pin out slightly. It should start moving back. The metal lip will get stuck at one more point where you can use the flathead to push it back again. Be careful with the pin as it comes out and is free. The metal is really thin and bends easily. You could break it off if you bend it around too much. The second pic in this post shows the metal lip on the pin after I had taken the pin out of slot 5.



Now you can twist the connector around and try to insert the pin into the 6 slot. Be careful not to bend the pint. I tried to do it without popping the plastic cap off of the side with pin 6 as I figured it wasn't necessary. It was fussy so I just popped it off in case. I had bent the pin a little and I think this was my main problem. After a bloody knuckle and some sweaty pits I got the pin in partially. I used the pliers to grab it and pull it through until I heard the retaining lip on the pin snap in. My plastic cap had broken off but it still snaps back in place perfectly so it doesn't matter. See the finished product.


Before the connector is put back, put the two plugs back in and make sure you snap the connector in the way it was with the 1 pin where it was.


NOW....can anyone tell me what is left and what needs to be tapped in order for these babies to function....almost there....

[mapleridge]

Ok....so I need to tap number 2 and 4 for the ground wire. I was also told that the brown and blue wires in the first pic by the projector need to be tapped can anyone confirm and let me know what guage butt connector I need to use?

[DESI4life10]

Great thread.

Glad you are working your way through.

Here is a pic I took of my pre-lci Xenon.



You see the Black and red wires under the projector? That is the power for you shutter. This pin is not connected to your cars harness therefore won't work unless you do the retrofit which includes the adding the new wires. Most people won't go through this and would tap the "red" wire to the high beam (halogen) wire (blue).

If I remember, you don't have a inner halogen light right? If not, you can swap the red wire pin and put it into the high beam pin (for pre-lci cars).

The other tap was with the ballast ground wire with the ground wire of the halogen high beam. Again, if you don't have an inner halogen light, then you can probably place the pin in the proper slot.

Here is a pic of the pin configuration for the pre-lci halogen cars posted by another member.



Note that Pin 4 is the ground that is officially used on halogen cars. Pin 2 ground is the ballast ground that is connected for xenon cars. Because halogen cars don't use pin 2, we need to tap that with pin 4 ground.

Hope this helps a bit.

[Virterm]

In case of non adaptive lights, pin 6 is not present on the headlight connector, thus you actually need to move your pin inside the headlight or modify the factory harness connecting to your light.

Originally Posted by DESI4life10

Great thread.

Glad you are working your way through.

Here is a pic I took of my pre-lci Xenon.



You see the Black and red wires under the projector? That is the power for you shutter. This pin is not connected to your cars harness therefore won't work unless you do the retrofit which includes the adding the new wires. Most people won't go through this and would tap the "red" wire to the high beam (halogen) wire (blue).

If I remember, you don't have a inner halogen light right? If not, you can swap the red wire pin and put it into the high beam pin (for pre-lci cars).

The other tap was with the ballast ground wire with the ground wire of the halogen high beam. Again, if you don't have an inner halogen light, then you can probably place the pin in the proper slot.

Here is a pic of the pin configuration for the pre-lci halogen cars posted by another member.



Note that Pin 4 is the ground that is officially used on halogen cars. Pin 2 ground is the ballast ground that is connected for xenon cars. Because halogen cars don't use pin 2, we need to tap that with pin 4 ground.

Hope this helps a bit.

[mapleridge]

Originally Posted by DESI4life10

Great thread.

Glad you are working your way through.

Here is a pic I took of my pre-lci Xenon.


You see the Black and red wires under the projector? That is the power for you shutter. This pin is not connected to your cars harness therefore won't work unless you do the retrofit which includes the adding the new wires. Most people won't go through this and would tap the "red" wire to the high beam (halogen) wire (blue).

If I remember, you don't have a inner halogen light right? If not, you can swap the red wire pin and put it into the high beam pin (for pre-lci cars).

The other tap was with the ballast ground wire with the ground wire of the halogen high beam. Again, if you don't have an inner halogen light, then you can probably place the pin in the proper slot.

Here is a pic of the pin configuration for the pre-lci halogen cars posted by another member.


Note that Pin 4 is the ground that is officially used on halogen cars. Pin 2 ground is the ballast ground that is connected for xenon cars. Because halogen cars don't use pin 2, we need to tap that with pin 4 ground.

Hope this helps a bit.

Desi4life, thanks so much. Now I understand why I am making the adjustments.

Ok. So I need to ground the ballast and since I have no more halogen high beam I can just switch pins 2 & 4 like I did with 5 & 6? Anyone know what pin 4 is used for on the lci nahl lights? I don't want to disable something in the process.

Should my bi-xenon shutter work without modification since I have changed the pin? After that, are there any more wires I need to tap/change?

[DESI4life10]

You on the right track.

Swapping pin 5 to pin 6 is the first thing you needed to do. Basically this will provide power to your shutter when the high beam is triggered. Coding will ensure the power is going to pin 6 when you flash and when you want to trigger the high beam.

The last mod you need to do is getting the ballast grounded. So it looks like your pin 2 and 4 are used. This means that pin 2 is most likely the ground for your ballast and pin 4 is the ground for some other lights in the headlight. your cars harness does not use pin 2 so you will need to tap the wires from pin 2 to pin 4. If it is tight, you can do it externally on the car wiring harness by making a pin and connecting it to the empty pin 2 slot and then tapping it to pin 4 wire externally.

I don't think swapping pin 2 and 4 is going to work as it may be providing the ground (most likely) for your angel eyes.

Another thing you may want to do is providing power to those 3 led lights on the side of the headlight near the top. Those probably go to a pin that isn't set up. You may want to the positive to the positive wire for your angel eyes.

send me a whats app msg if you need and any help.

[mapleridge]

Originally Posted by DESI4life10

You on the right track.

Swapping pin 5 to pin 6 is the first thing you needed to do. Basically this will provide power to your shutter when the high beam is triggered. Coding will ensure the power is going to pin 6 when you flash and when you want to trigger the high beam.

The last mod you need to do is getting the ballast grounded. So it looks like your pin 2 and 4 are used. This means that pin 2 is most likely the ground for your ballast and pin 4 is the ground for some other lights in the headlight. your cars harness does not use pin 2 so you will need to tap the wires from pin 2 to pin 4. If it is tight, you can do it externally on the car wiring harness by making a pin and connecting it to the empty pin 2 slot and then tapping it to pin 4 wire externally.

I don't think swapping pin 2 and 4 is going to work as it may be providing the ground (most likely) for your angel eyes.

Another thing you may want to do is providing power to those 3 led lights on the side of the headlight near the top. Those probably go to a pin that isn't set up. You may want to the positive to the positive wire for your angel eyes.

send me a whats app msg if you need and any help.

shoot. It would have been the ultimate oem move if I could have switched 2 and 4. I guess I will just tap them. I think there should be a lot of slack on the ballast wire from looking at it.

I don't like those three leds in the corner and would rather leave them off so I probably won't tap them to activate. I hope that covers everything. I will get to the coding as soon as I piece together my one more ballast and led blinker.

[Guerillah]

Originally Posted by DESI4life10

You on the right track.

Swapping pin 5 to pin 6 is the first thing you needed to do. Basically this will provide power to your shutter when the high beam is triggered. Coding will ensure the power is going to pin 6 when you flash and when you want to trigger the high beam.

The last mod you need to do is getting the ballast grounded. So it looks like your pin 2 and 4 are used. This means that pin 2 is most likely the ground for your ballast and pin 4 is the ground for some other lights in the headlight. your cars harness does not use pin 2 so you will need to tap the wires from pin 2 to pin 4. If it is tight, you can do it externally on the car wiring harness by making a pin and connecting it to the empty pin 2 slot and then tapping it to pin 4 wire externally.

I don't think swapping pin 2 and 4 is going to work as it may be providing the ground (most likely) for your angel eyes.

Another thing you may want to do is providing power to those 3 led lights on the side of the headlight near the top. Those probably go to a pin that isn't set up. You may want to the positive to the positive wire for your angel eyes.

send me a whats app msg if you need and any help.

Join pin #1 to pin #7 to get the 3 LED's to function, they will turn on whenever your angel eyes are on. All wiring can be done inside the headlight with wiretaps (since the headlight harness won't have a wire for pin 7 on a non LCI car) and is completely reversible. I have pics if the OP needs them.

[mapleridge]

Originally Posted by Guerillah

Join pin #1 to pin #7 to get the 3 LED's to function, they will turn on whenever your angel eyes are on. All wiring can be done inside the headlight with wiretaps (since the headlight harness won't have a wire for pin 7 on a non LCI car) and is completely reversible. I have pics if the OP needs them.

Can I tap them so they only come on with the blinker/turn signal lights? I rather do that. Also, I would love to see the pic.

[mapleridge]

reserved for when I make more progress.

[DESI4life10]

Originally Posted by mapleridge

Can I tap them so they only come on with the blinker/turn signal lights? I rather do that. Also, I would love to see the pic.

Yea you can do it that way. Just have to make sure you code your car to not have corner lights when lowbeam is on. Either way when the corner light is activated the led will be activated to.

So to do that you would tap pin 7 into pin 12.

[mapleridge]

Originally Posted by DESI4life10

Yea you can do it that way. Just have to make sure you code your car to not have corner lights when lowbeam is on. Either way when the corner light is activated the led will be activated to.

So to do that you would tap pin 7 into pin 12.

perfect. Thanks Desi. Virterm told me 10-12g connectors is what we need from other posts. I will pick those up and get the tapping. I should get it all wrapped up after that.

[Guerillah]

Originally Posted by mapleridge

perfect. Thanks Desi. Virterm told me 10-12g connectors is what we need from other posts. I will pick those up and get the tapping. I should get it all wrapped up after that.

10-12g wiretaps are way too big. Do it inside the headlight housing using an 18-22g wiretap. Pin 12 and 7 are both on the led blinker cable connection.

[Virterm]

Originally Posted by Guerillah

10-12g wiretaps are way too big. Do it inside the headlight housing using an 18-22g wiretap. Pin 12 and 7 are both on the led blinker cable connection.

10-12 for ground wires.....

[Guerillah]

Originally Posted by Virterm

10-12 for ground wires.....

Roger

[mapleridge]

Originally Posted by Guerillah

Pin 12 and 7 are both on the led blinker cable connection.

Can you explain what this means? Will it work for what I want to do. 18-22g tap for the blinker and corner 3 lights?

[Guerillah]

Originally Posted by mapleridge

Can you explain what this means? Will it work for what I want to do. 18-22g tap for the blinker and corner 3 lights?

Maybe this will help. All you need to do is connect pin 7 & 12 together. The attached picture is of the LED blinker, and the 3 wire connection that connects to it inside the headlight housing. Pin 12 controls your blinkers and corner lights, once you code your car to delete the corner lights and wire pin 7 & 12 together, it will cause the LED blinker and the 3 LED's to light up together whenever you use your turn signals.

[mapleridge]

Originally Posted by Guerillah

Maybe this will help. All you need to do is connect pin 7 & 12 together. The attached picture is of the LED blinker, and the 3 wire connection that connects to it inside the headlight housing. Pin 12 controls your blinkers and corner lights, once you code your car to delete the corner lights and wire pin 7 & 12 together, it will cause the LED blinker and the 3 LED's to light up together whenever you use your turn signals.

Attachment 699163

Can I tap them together right near the plug? I'm assuming the furthest left and the furthest right would be the 7 and 12. Also, can you confirm the guage of connector needed for this.

Thanks for the pic.